The Massena, New York Museum - Part 1

Our snow was beginning to melt and I felt inspired to tour the Massena, New York Museum:

The museum was a colorful, spacious assortment of all kinds of things from many different eras. They had lots of Easter themed displays:

The museum had musical displays:

And a handmade, Victorian doll house. I could see that it was filled with furniture but I couldn't see in through the back. I should have asked for a special look, but I didn't:

I was shocked when I saw this torture device - and then realized it was a hair curler from a beauty parlor:

On second thought, I suppose some would have maintained that it was indeed a torture device:

Easter bonnets:

And a history of sewing:

The Massena Police Department:

An old fashioned school room:

Medical devices from bygone eras:

More sewing equipment. And there was still more to see at the museum. Tune in tomorrow for Part 2:

The Parishville Town Museum - Part 3

On the second floor of the museum was an old fashioned bedroom, chock full of old time furniture, quilts and paintings:

I was particularly taken with this old dresser's design, which I found most ingenious. Also, notice the sun bonnet hanging on the bed's headboard:

A woman of a certain era must have looked stylish in basic black:

There was a lot to see:

There were several rooms whose photos didn't turn out well, so I'll skip those. Then I stepped out onto what seemed to me to be a sort of second floor enclosed porch. They had several dollhouses which were log cabins, the type which the first settlers lived in:

This log cabin doll house looked interesting, so I moved closer:

I took a look inside, and indeed it was a furnished log cabin doll house:

A third log cabin doll house was even more elaborately furnished. While dollhouses are not uncommon in museum displays, I've never before seen log cabin versions, much less three of them. Parishville's pioneer history of settling the wilderness is not that far in the past that folks have forgotten:

Shop tools, especially planes:

And a children's room with too many dolls to photograph:

I moved back down the stairs into the elegant foyer and living room:

I thanked the historian and made my departure, snapping a photo of the museum's exterior as I drove away: